Australian Pharmacy Leadership

Abstract

Background Leadership is essential to the direction of teams, organisations and professions. Pharmacy leadership begins as pharmacists first engage with the profession. Aim The aim of this research was to investigate and identify areas that impact the leadership development of intern pharmacists. Methods The aim was addressed by employing qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative study set out to define pharmacy leadership, employing grounded theory to examine 29 in-depth interviews with pharmacy leaders. The qualitative findings informed the quantitative study which investigated the development relationship that exists between intern pharmacists and preceptor pharmacists. The quantitative study further investigated interns (n=430) development needs. The psychometric properties of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) were examined using Confirmatory and Exploratory Factor Analysis (CFA & EFA). Findings Six themes emerged from the qualitative study that constitute the Pharmacy Leadership Theory. 1) Pharmacy leadership definition; 2) Pharmacist identity; 3) Community pharmacy leadership; 4) Pharmacy industry influences; 5) The transformation challenge; and 6) Pharmacy leadership development. Pharmacy leaders believed that unstructured leadership development is needed, whilst interns were seeking structured leadership development. This provides some evidence of an inter-generational disconnect. Interns who received a transformational leadership style from their preceptors, reported an increased willingness to work harder, and believed their preceptors exhibited effective leadership. CFA of all known leadership models using the MLQ indicated a poor fit. The factorial structure of the MLQ was explored employing EFA which indicated 4 leadership factors that was confirmed to fit the data using CFA. A CFA on the 3 outcomes of leadership identified a high correlation approaching unity causing doubt that the factors are separate. Conclusions New insights into understanding pharmacy leadership and the formative leadership development relationship have been identified. These findings will inform preceptor training and subsequently improve intern development. Further research is needed to understand pharmacy leadership across the pharmacy workforce.